Festival of History 2023 - Paul Duffy - Ireland and The Crusades

This talk will discuss research from the recent volume Ireland and the Crusades (Four Courts Press, 2022) with particular focus on the central role played by Hugh de Lacy - the first earl of Ulster - in the crusade against the ‘Cathar’ heretics in Southern France in the early thirteenth century.
By exploring the rich primary sources, de Lacy’s expulsion from Ulster, his exile in Languedoc and his eventual violent return to Ireland, are portrayed through the lenses of ambition, conspiracy, and family.
Paul Duffy is an archaeologist specialising in medieval and urban archaeology.